Maybe We’ve Got it Wrong, Again

by David Henderson

All I’m doing is wondering out loud in this blog posting …

It must have been about ten years ago, in 1999, that I read some gushing article in a magazine like BusinessWeek that the Internet was going to replace bricks and mortar stores. People would buy everything online, from furniture to cat litter. The article suggested that we would just sit in our little cocoon environments and order everything online, content with our big gulp drinks and easy chairs. Well, part of it came true but most of it did not. There was a lot of hype, exaggeration and untruths at the time … even though naive venture capital outfits threw millions at half-baked promises at the time.

Times change but cycles do not. We are today seeing another cycle of hype. This time it’s over social media. Countless people with no experience and no credentials in the online world, marketing or media – like so many unemployed mortgage bankers, Realtors and former Circuit City clerks – are now self-proclaimed social media gurus, shilling half-baked promises to anyone who will listen. And, there are a lot of businesses out there that have had a rough time during the recession who employ stressed-out marketing/PR people looking for anything that appears to be a quick fix. Those people are easy prey for the self-proclaimed guru snake oil sales people.

Part of the contemporary American work psyche is to seek quick fixes, regardless of downside risk. Maybe many of us are just forever provincial and fail to heed history, cycles or consequences. I don’t know. But I do know that a growing number of international business leaders poke fun of us in the U.S. for our chronic shortsightedness. They’ve got us pegged accurately.

In the same superficial style of all the Internet expos of the late 90s, we are today seeing countless social media conferences. It’s all the rage. Everyone gets a packet of brochures and a silly looking ball cap or t-shirt. And, they go home having learned nothing authentically intelligent or original. Follow the pack.

When do we begin to learn that the Internet is a communications tool … a powerful conduit of information. In order to use it, one must first know something about effective communications. What brings influence, intelligence and creativity of the online world to life is how we use it to connect people into meaningful discussions, sharing and interface. And, here is the reality – it cannot be achieved effectively merely through fiberoptic cables.

A handshake and a glance in someone’s eyes is always far more powerful than an email or Twitter response. Additionally, having an interesting and legitimate story to tell is far more effective than self-promotional gimmicks.

Some things do not change.